The transformations of the peripheral urban form in Brazilian listed heritage coastal cities and their morphological typologies: classification and concepts

This paper presents the results of my PhD research in architecture and urbanism, which analyzes an urban form and its use as a territorial planning tool. The object of study was the protected historic cities listed on the Brazilian coast, which have restrictions on building construction. These cities are influenced by urban flows, the impact of the metropolitan dynamics, and contemporary transformations. The research discusses the rigidity of the building legislation in the urban perimeter of these cities, while urban transformations and informal growth take place in peripheral areas in varied forms, types and arrangements. It aims to identify, classify and conceptualize the morphological types that appear as urban occurrences and consolidate as dispersed informal nuclei. Such urban occurrences are due to the building restrictions, the lack of territorial planning, and the contemporary globalized model of life, which shapes social inequality in urban expansion. The research methodology consisted of a perimeter survey of the 27 heritage listed cities on the Brazilian coast, according to the parameters obtained by Brazilian Forest Law (12.651/2012) and Brazilian Urban Land Parceling Law (Law 6.766/1979). Also, imagery collected by Google Earth was used to identify urban formations that deviate from legislation, similarly to the object of study. As a result, 16 types of urban forms were classified, which consolidated as nuclei of dispersed formations and were linked to an informal urban structural network. Also, territorial planning guidelines were designed, using the analysis of urban forms as a tool for urban transformation.